Thomas wrote:You can believe me or you can pooh, pooh my answer, but it is not just my opinion--it is an opinion with a basis.

Isnt there option c)? I certainly wouldnt dismiss your response, Thomas. The intent of my question was to really learn about a region that I haven't given a fair shake and one I have read little about regarding quality equal to Germany or Alsace. [sarcasm] And being the regional shill that you are, I don't plan on straight out believing you [/sarcasm] Which brings me to option c) and that is to make a more concerted effort to try to disprove my notion of NY wines being just ok.
That leads me to the next question. What would be a producer, preferably with reasonable availability as I live in a criminal state, that you would recommend. In Alsace, one can point beginners and experts alike to producers such as Trimbach, Weinbach, Z-H. In Mosel there are consistent producers aplenty such as Christoffel, Prum and the like. Where would you point a NY FL novice who is in search of a producer that exemplifies the region?

May I weigh in on producers of riesling?
I'd surely put Wiemer and Dr Frank as famous Finger Lake wineries on the same plane as Trimbach and Prum in anywhere close to the price point. I'll mention Chateau Lafayette Reneau on Seneca as well and Ravines and Heron Hill on Keuka. There are plenty of others that I find to be personal favorites.

Ed has listed a few of the ones I would have listed (and John has extended the list) but I have absolutely no idea if you can get them in your criminal state--and which vintages are available. FLakes suffers from lack of distribution.

As to being a shill, nah. I have no financial interest in any wine produced here or in any wineries for that matter. Come to think of it, even when I had a financial interest I had no finances...

After 23 years in this region, however, I am convinced that Riesling is the top variety. The most consistent of the Vitis vinifera producers as it relates to quality in the region.

This month happens to be Riesling month in the region--maybe you should break out of that criminal state and make a getaway drive this way. Bring your moll.

John D. Zuccarino wrote:Hermann J. Wiemer is the kind of man that does things his way. I know he does not cater to busses nor limousines. His reputation is like this. One day a customer told Mr. Wiemer that her tasting glass has a fruit fly in it. The woman asked for a new glass and he snapped back " you think that little fly will kill you !" and refused to give her another.

John, it's been a couple of days but every time I read this, it puts a smile on my face. I just had to reply to say that ...

I, too, really like winemakers with backbone - backbone that's often evident in their wines as well, by coincidence (or maybe not!). I like Bartolo Mascarello's quote very much because it expresses the same kind of approach: "No barriques, no California, no cabernet, no chardonnay, no wines with made-up names." Also: "We don't even have a word for cru: we have to import it from France."

Bill - North of Boston (my sister live in York Beach, ME and its an 8 hour drive from my house North of Buffalo . If you could come to NiagaraCOOL on the weekend of June 10-11, we're expecting to have a Riesling Taste-Off with several from the FLs, MI, and Ontario as well as a few Germans thrown in, just for good measure. Even if you can't make it, you're only 5-6 hours from the Finger Lakes for a nice weekend get-away (not nearly as crowded with tourists as Maine in summer).

Howie, are you taking a count on attendees yet? (If on the other board, I can't post there except from home at night, so I've pretty much abandoned it.)
Will you be looking for some dry rieslings? I don't know about the FL, but most Michigan rieslings are of Qba or kabinett sweetness - off dry to semi-sweet. But we do have a couple that I can round up if you want that.

I haven't started to count heads yet, but I will try to remember to cross post on both the other board and in the "Offlines Only" section of this forum. Last year we had about 35 attendees, so I'm expecting at least that many.
Dry is nice. Off-dry is nice. Sweet is nice. I hadn't thought about it, but I guess we could even have more than one category of Riesling. I think a little bit of structure would work better than a free-for-all.

I agree about categories. Slipping in a dry after a few spatlese styles won't help the dry riesling at all. And maybe it is nothing more than putting the dry ones in a bag marked "dry" and the wine number.
35 eh - that's just great. Really looking forward to this.
Do the FL rieslings put the RS figure on the bottles?
-w